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DAM-L Zambezi basin and tourism impacts <fwd>
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Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 08:49:15 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: Zambezi and tourism impacts/LS
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Lost Opportunities for Africa's Largest River Basin
By Singy Hanyona
The Zambezi River Basin, home to about 40 million African people is being
affected by tourism developments, the fastest growing activities in the
basin.
The Zambezi river basin is Southern Africa's largest shared basin, draining
a total area of over 1.3 million square kilometres.
The basin stretches across eight (8) Southern African Development Community
(SADC) countries of Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
But the increasing economic activities, mainly tourism has been a source of
worry to conservation institutions and other stakeholders.
Land degradation, poor watershed management, sewage and industrial
pollution, drainage of wetlands, water abstraction and general
infrastructural developments have reached a magnitude which calls for
urgent action in terms of environmentally sound economic development and
management of the basin
Five environmental organisations in the SADC region recently launched a
comprehensive report on the status of the environment in the basin.
The "State of the Environment in the Zambezi Basin 2000", report was
prepared by partners in Communicating the Environment Programme (CEP).
CEP partners include SADC Environment and Land Management Sector (ELMS) and
Water Sector Coordinating Unit (SADC-WSCU) and the IUCN Regional Office for
Southern Africa (IUCN-ROSA).
Others are the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) Southern African Research and
Documentation Centre for Southern Africa (SADC-IMERCA).
The report meets one of the key aims of Agenda 21, the global Action Plan
on Environment and Development, which stresses on the integrated management
of
eco-systems and the essential services they provide.
Over the millenia, life in Southern Africa was measured by the web and flow
of the great Zambezi river.
Every year the river's waters spilled over into its vast plains, irrigating
subsistance crops, rejuvenating vital grasslands for wildlife and
livestock, depositing nutrient-rich sediments in coastal mangroves and
triggering the lifecycles of countless species of plants and animals.
.Throughout history, low dry season flows of the Zambezi river, sustained
the productivity of coastal prawn fisheries and enabled the people of the
river's basin to harvest riverine fishes.
In pursuit of the privatisation programme in Zambia, embarked on by
government in 1992, many tourist oriented and private investors mainly from
South Africa, have come to put up major infrastructure projects in the
Zambezi river basin.
According to Mozambican Ornithologist Carlos Bento, this has led to the
decline of populations of Cape Buffalo, water Buck, Zebra and hippo by 95
per cent or more 'as now the dry flood plain has opened the area to
commercial poaching.
Grassland burning has intensified throughout the dry season and more than
90 per cent of the lower Zambezi flood plain now burns every year.
Further, the endangered wattled crane, have been disrupted by the irregular
flood pattern below the Kariba Dam, the largest man-made dam in the world.
An IMERCSA Newsletter of April, 2000 indicated that rich as it is in fauna
and flora, the Zambezi River Basin plays host to some of the poorest people
in the region. This is an unfortunate paradox.
>From the Kalene hills in North -western Zambia, to its delta in Mozambique
>where it empties into the Indian ocean, the great Zambezi has made limited
>economic contribution to the lives of millions of
Africans who live on its banks.
"Only subsistence survival from wetland and flood plain food resources and
building materials offer meagre existence.
"The basin communities depend heavily on natural resources for a living,
the result of which is a high rate of environmental degradation", reports
EMERCSA.
Firewood is also a major source energy for the communities, contributing to
increasing levels of deforestation.
The Kariba Hydroelectric Power Station, one of the major reasons for the
birth of the Lake which bears its name, generates hundreds of megawatts of
electricity annually but none of this power finds its way into the homes of
local communities. Other electricity generating centres in the basin are
situated at Hwange and Munyati, Kafue Gorge and Cahora Bassa.
EMERCSA further reports that even the few social amenities like schools and
clinics, which are thinly spread in the basin, do not benefit from the
hydroelectirc power schemes through either piped water or electricity.
Up to today, the Nyaminyami, 'river God' community does not have a high
school or a decent hospital. The people do not have a good travel road, let
alone tarred one, or a fixed telephone network.
Lake Kariba is the largest water body in Zimbabwe but the Zambezi Valley
communities face severe water shortages each year owing to poor rainfall
patterns in the valley area.
Unsustainable game populations also contribute to poverty when wildlife
decimates crops in the villages.
With the basin's huge wildlife populations, it is no wonder that Zimbabwe's
CAMPFIRE programme was first pilot-tested and rated as a success in the two
valley districts of Nyaminyami and Guruve.
The environs of Kariba, like those of Binga and Victoria Falls up-river and
Kanyemba downstream give an overwhelming impression of lost opportunities.
The beautiful gorges and impressive mixes of biodiversity are, in places,
dotted with shanty dwellings which are skillfully and shamefully tucked
away from hilltop mansions, posh hotels and beautiful, but sensitive,
leisure boats.
Zambia's delapidated lakeshore town of Siavonga, situated just across that
dam a stone's throw away from Kariba Town, in Zimbabwe, also exudes a sense
of lost opportunities.
The Zambezi slumbers with its mighty potential, impressive geography and
endless variety.
The river basin can best be described as a mirror image of the rest of the
region where many resource-endowed communities wallow in poverty while
there is plenty on their doorstep.
Ends..
The Author is a Freelance Journalist in Zambia
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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